In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| Despite my 'little man' remark a lot of 'posh gardeners' like to do their
| own thing in the garden and are frequently found 'bums up' in the herbaceous
| border. It's said that the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire cherishes a remark
| in her visitors' book - "We saw the Duke in the garden and he looked quite
| normal!".

I was interpreting your remark to be a somewhat snide (and probably
correct) remark about the sort of 'posh' people that live in
Hampstead :-)

Traditionally, the genuine aristocracy and others were indeed likely
to be found doing the actual work, often dressed in clothing that the
under-gardener wouldn't be seen dead in! There might well be some
people in Hampstead with the same attitude, but there will definitely
be a lot that would almost never get their manicured hands muddy,
but would blither on about "my garden" at length.

I would tend to choose either type, depending on how the character
fits. The former type would employ a 'little man' primarily to mow
the lawn, dig new beds over and do the general, heavyish, unskilled
work, and would do things like take her own cuttings.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.